Mainman Jon Schaffer - "ICED EARTH Is A Vehicle For My Songs, That Is All It Has Ever Been"
http://www.bravewords.com/news/102294
Metal Exiles: You have the Tim Owens thing but you have always had a revolving door. Do you think that has affected Iced Earth at all or is it all Jon Schaffers vision?
Jon: "Iced Earth is a vehicle for my songs, that is all it has ever been. People follow a band so they have this fantasy about how a band operates and how it must be but 99% of the time it is all horseshit because they do not know what the reality of it is. I did not start this band to be some egomaniacal rock star, I do not give a fuck about that. I do not give a fuck about being a guitar hero, those are not my goals. The guitar is a tool to write songs and Iced Earth is a vehicle for my compositions. It has also been a series struggle especially in those first 13 years with Century Media. It was a situation that most bands would have broken up under. These are all things that people do not know about and they make judgments about them and it does not bother me. Anybody that has worked with me knows that I am very fair and loyal but there is a point that I do not put up with anybodys bullshit. At the end of the day it does not make a big difference. It has everything to do with management, record companies, booking agents, publishers. Those are the four things that matters with a bands success. It has nothing to do with Joe Blow on the drums, bass or guitar, it does not matter. If the machine is there and the product is there, which it always has been and every Iced Earth album has sold well regardless of who is in the band. People in the industry know that the record is going to sell well anyway. It is one of those things that does not concern me and no it is not all about me but it is all about my songs."

